Xmon Outputs

[98wildcat]

Hello All,
New user here and having some growing pains, I appreciate your help!
So, I was looking in the book and it says to me that the XMON Main Outs are set up so that channel 1 becomes your left and Channel 5 becomes your right. This makes sense if you are doing surround, however, I am not.
When I plugged everything in, channel 5 was not working as it turns out channel 2 was my right speaker.

So the question is, are outputs 3-8 now open for me to do what I please with them or are they locked up for future surround sound use. (in other words, can I use outs 3-8 for other speakers or outboard inserts etc.)

Thanks
Scott
www.southwestsoundworks.com
www.scottleader.com

[Drew Mazurek]

You can do whatever you want with the outputs. I think the only issue will be the control surface will always thing output 5 is right, so if you try to mute/solo that speaker it won't work.

[98wildcat]

right but output 5 is not right, #2 is? This is what is confusing me...
But I can use those other outputs for outboard gear inserts?

[Drew Mazurek]

yes.

[Top Jimmy]

Any way you cut it, if you want to be able to use the other 6 outputs, you need to get DB-25 to XLR breakouts to go between the 192 and the main ins on the X-Mon. Since you have to do that anyway, patch 192 outs 1 and 2 to X-Mon ins 1 and 5. Of course, X-Mon out 1 and 5 will feed your amp or powered speakers. The benefit of this will show up when you want to use the stereo ins on the X-Mon. The stereo ins are wired to come out 1 and 5 from the X-Mon and cannot be changed.

[98wildcat]

gotcha, and I have the Db-25 to xlr, its just that its 1 and 2 not 1 and 5...thats what I cant understand...
The book says 1 and 5 and everyone on here does too, perhaps mine was setup incorrectly?
Pretty weird.

[Top Jimmy]

I think I understand your confusion. Which output Left and Right actually comes out is determined in the I/O setup in Pro Tools. When using the X-Mon 1-5 routing, mixing in stereo, and you only have a DB-25 to DB-25 cable attaching the 192 analog outs directly to the X-Mon, you have to move the right side of your main monitoring bus to come out channel 5. So, output pair A1-2 would be be routed to 1-5 of the 192. If you mix in 7.1, then by default, the right would be at 5 since the channel layout is L,LC,C,RC,R,LS,RS,S.

If all you're ever going to do is stereo, and you don't want to deal with the hassle of fooling with the I/O setup whenever projects come and go, then just use outs 1-2 from the 192 for your main monitoring, and patch them into ins 1-5 of the X-Mon via XLR breakouts. This way, you'll have full use of the X-Mon stereo ins, mini-monitor outs, and muting/solo on the control surface.

[98wildcat]

Ahhh..ok.
So basically, loose the Db25-Db25 and go for a DB 25 to XLR out of 192 and DB 25 XLR IN from the XMON... ok cool.
I have no problem messing with the IO settings, infact I have completely customized it for our gear, but it never occured to me to loose the DB-25 and it with the snake...
Excellent, thanks alot.